dennisdxl,

Using a separate multichannel power amp with your AV receiver as a pre-pro is an excellent solution. The residual power drain of the unused amplifier sections would be minimal. Even if you went with a separate pre-pro, it would still have a power supply section that consumes AC for the preamp/processor circuitry.

Use your AV receiver's internal amplifiers for all the surround channels and a separate 3-channel power amp for the fronts.

Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)